~a month of unschool~ reaching for the stars

more drawing classes; the slumping, rotten pumpkin entry in the triptych, as well as lessons on perspective drawing!

we began the process of glazing our bisqued ceramic pieces! quinn also built a cool spinosaurus (spines not included yet) made of wood, with his dad.

some of the best learning opportunities for quinn at ols are all the relationships he has been cultivating. as you all know very well, i am not one who thinks school is necessary for “socialization” purposes, but in our case, our social needs are being met in wonderful ways, thanks to our wonderful school.

at my after school program, i introduced something that, back when i was competing in it at the science olympiad with my high school bestie, was called write it/do it. one person writes directions for the building of some structure (often made of legos) and then the person in the other room has to use the written directions to build an exact replica to the best of their ability in the allotted time. i modified it for after school program (aka the reluctant writers’ club) so that instead of writing, they just get to speak the instructions over the top of a barrier, blocking the finished structure from the partner’s view. it’s a great exercise in being able to articulate what sets each piece apart from the others, how each piece is oriented with respect to the other pieces, and even how the group of pieces is oriented in space with respect to the room or the universe at large.

all of that said, just to convey that quinn has no shortage of these particular skills, and loves to play this game. i know that as soon as he is a writer, he will be game to play write it/do it with me.

also at after school, i have been charged with familiarizing myself with lego robotics, and although i feel ill equipped to teach it just yet, it certainly is a fun, if incredibly expensive, means of learning programming and robotics! quinn is, of course, along for the ride and likely absorbing and retaining much more than i am at these informational meetings.

science abounds in our version of schooling… this month we dissected owl pellets and drew maps of the ols school yard (interesting to observe that the younger the students, the more play-structure-centric the map!)

somewhere in there was halloween, which went by without much fanfare, though we did do some required pumpkin carving at home.

and of course, quinn wore his velociraptor costume to ols! his claws were a cheap pair of thin gloves, with 2 sets of 2 fingers sewn together so the resulting claw had 3 digits. the feet were rubber kitchen gloves, with toe claws taped in place. the tail was pillow wrap decorated with tissue paper.

the costume was a hit, and we had a fun day of pounding golf tees into a pumpkin, biting apples hung up by a string, and generally being festive with our school friends.

we have a new addition to the ols crew, a reading specialist who quinn has already started forming a great bond with. he gets to spend quality time with her every week now, and is make great progress in reading!

oh, and did i mention science? of course i already posted about the stargazing we did at home to accompany the study of the solar system we have been doing at school, but i can’t think of a better way to sum up yet another wonderful month of reaching for the stars!